Safety-pin.



No. 861,234. PATENTED JULY 23, 1907.

R. B. FERGUSON.

SAFETY PIN.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2 1. 1904.

anon; toz

19i tn eon: M,

v": NDRRIS PETEE! cu. wnsmmrmn, m c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT B. FERGUSON, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASS IGNOR TO GEORGE E. HARPHAM, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

SAFETY-PIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 23, 1907.

Application filed June 21,1904:- Serial No. 213,542.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT B. FEReUsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety-Pins, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in safety pins, the object being to provide a simple, neat and attractive article of this description which can be placed on the market at a low rate and one which can be fastened or unfastened with one hand.

To thisend my invention comprises certain details of construction and combinations of parts such as will be more fully described hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a view in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a top plan view. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of my improved safety pin.

In the drawings A, represents the safety pin comprising preferably a single resilient wire bent intermediate its ends to form the spiral spring coils 3, one of the free ends of the wire being extended to form the pin member ,1, pointed at its end as usual, and the other free end of the wire forming the bow or back member 4, the material at the extreme end of the member 4 being bent sharply backward upon itself as at 5, to form, with the outer end of the bow member, the guard. The material is then bent outward to form a loop lying approximately in. the plane of the guard, the material extending beneath the guard 5 and across to the bow'member 4. asshown at 6, to form a rest, the free end of the rest passing around the bow member 4 as at 7 to form a stop. The guard or shield thus formed normally receives and protects the point of the pin member, which lies therein in engagement with the rest and the stop. It will be noted that the tendency of the spiral spring 3 is to cause the members 1 and 4 to extend open and that in their closed positions the members converge toward each other at their engaged ends, the pin member lying upon the rest 6, the tension of the spring being to cause the end of the pin member to lie against the stop 7, the rest preventing the escape of the pin.

The material composing the pin may be steel, brass or other resilient metal, but preferably brass, and is operable by means of the thumb and forefinger of one hand when attaching it to or removing it from a fabric or garment, by grasping the safety pin at some convenient point adjacent the coil spring and pressing the members into the position shown in dotted and full lines in Fig. 1. The pointed pin member may then be causedto penetrate the fabric in the usual manner of operating a safety pin. In attaching the pin to a garment the pin is laid onto the garment and pinned thereto. When the pointed end of the pin is in line with the guard and rest, the pin member will have drawn a portion of the garment impaled thereon into the position shown in Fig. 4, whereupon the pressure on the members is released and the tension of the spring will cause the pin to turn over bodily assuming the position shown in Fig. 3 where it will remain, the guard 5 retaining the pin and preventing its accidental removal from the garment. 1 When it is desired to remove the pin from the garment, the pin is given a half turn laterally from the position shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 4 and when in such latter position a rearward pull on the pin will operate to withdraw it from the garment the guard moving over the fabric as the pin is Withdrawn as shown in Fig. 5.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:-

As an article of manufacture, a safety pin composed of a single piece of wire bent to form the two members A and 4 with the spring 3 connecting" said members, the free end of the member 4 provided with a guard extending laterally approximately at right angles to the plane of the members A and 4, this guard being formed by a bend in the wire whereby each side of the guard is in a plane approxi' mately at right angles to the plane of the members A and 4, said sides forming the sole confining means of the point of the pin when closed, a bend being formed in the wire at the free end of the guard in approximately the same plane with the guard itself and the wire extending transversely and bent around the member A to form a rest for the point of the pin, the entire point being thus guarded by the guard formed.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 10th day of June, 1904.

ROBERT B. FERGUSON.

Witnesses:

HENRY T. HAZARD, G. E. IIARIHAM. 

